JUNE 3, 1938

HYDE PARK, Thursday—The Democratic Women's Division Dinner in Utica last night was very successful,
in spite of the fact that Mrs. Caroline O'Day, Vice Chairman of the Democratic State
Committee, was not able to be present because of illness and Mrs. Lehman, wife of
the Governor, was laid up with a sore throat and cold and could not be there either.

Fifteen hundred women from every county in the State were present. Postmaster General
Farley, Lieutenant Governor Bray, Mayor Corrou of Utica, Mr. Nathan Straus Federal Housing Administrator, and Mr. E. P. Mulrooney, Commissioner of Corrections in the State of New York, were all there.
At different times during the day session they had addressed the women on their particular
subjects. In addition, there was a most interesting exhibit on Social Security with
Mrs. Anna Rosenberg, Regional Director and Mrs. Mabel Fickel, Information Specialist from Washington, to explain it. Mrs.
Ellen Woodward, Assistant Director of WPA from Washington and Mrs. Izetta Jewell Miller, Regional Director for WPA business and professional projects, were also present.

I saw so many of my old friends from different parts of the State that it gave me
a real feeling of warmth and pleasure. Mrs. Henry Goddard Leach read Mrs. O'Day's
message and all the other notables either said a few words or stood up to take a bow.
Mr. Farley and I were given the time for real speeches, but as I looked around the
room I felt there was very little new that either of us could tell our audience.

Mrs. Scheider and I drove back at 7:30 this morning and the country was too beautiful.
We found a route uncrowded with traffic and drove through some of the most lovely,
rolling farm scenery. So much land in this country is still unoccupied that I am constantly
impressed with our wastefulness, both in the care of our woods and in the care of
our land. We have taken out so much more than we have put back into the land. That
was natural enough, I suppose, in years gone by when there seemed to be so much idle
land, but today it has made it difficult for many people to make a living on an area
which should easily care for a normal family.

We will have to learn some of the tricks of the thickly populated European countries.
In the meantime, there are still spots, even in this State, where one can imagine
for a brief moment that one is treading on undiscovered ground.

On the way down I stopped on Route 9G at "The Stone Jug," the old house done over as a tearoom by Mrs. Howland Davis and Mrs. Johnston Redmond.
It is most attractive and was built in the seventeen hundreds. I have rarely seen
finer hand-hewn timbers and there is an old fireplace which will give warmth and cheer
on cold days. Then we stopped at the Rhinebeck Exchange to buy homemade bread and
fresh cakes and finally we went back to the Hyde Park cottage, which we are leaving
in a few minutes for 24 hours in New York City.